Johannesburg – Retired judge Jeanette Traverso has flayed the official opposition Democratic Alliance’s policy on race issues as she delivered an unflattering verdict on how the party failed to properly handle disputes of black members who allege prejudice because of their race.
Traverso, who is the former deputy judge president of the Western Cape High Court, has told the DA that it was not an offense for a member to publicly allege that they were unfairly treated, as she pointed out a serious flaw in the DA’s constitution on misconduct regarding the contentious issue of race.
A clause of the party’s constitution, which resulted in Traverso’s finding, reads in part: “Any member, including public representative, is guilty of misconduct if he/she publicly alleges or implies that he/she, or any group of members have been unfairly prejudiced or any member or group of members unjustifiably preferred as a consequence of that member’s race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language or birth”.
But Traverso disagrees with the clause and called for its amendment.
“If a member has in fact been unfairly prejudiced as a consequence of that member’s race etc, it cannot possibly constitute an offence if the member publicly makes this allegation. In order to constitute an offence, the allegation must be shown to be untrue,” she said.
Traverso headed a committee that reviewed the DA’s disciplinary processes.
The process flowed from the recommendation of an independent panel that investigated the organisation’s poor showing during the 2019 polls.
The panel told the party to obtain legal advice on how to simplify and improve the policies on discipline to restore members’ confidence in the even-handedness of the process.
Traverso’s report was presented at the meeting of the party’s federal council last Friday.
The DA has on several occasions been rocked by allegations of racism, which has seen many of its senior black leaders leave the party.
The party has struggled over the years to shrug of the perception that it has “race denialism” issues. Among other problems, black DA members had complained that the party’s disciplinary processes were biased and took too long to resolve.
Some provinces said there were too many people who had a “back door” access to the federal legal commission (FLC) – the party’s disciplinary structure – and that the political leadership was using the commission as a “hit squad”. While the party is determined to move beyond race, it seems inextricably defined by racial divisions.
Several black leaders have complained that the FLC was used to target them. Former DA member Phumzile van Damme, Gauteng MPL and former DA youth leader Makashule Gana were some of the black leaders facing disciplinary charges, the Sunday World has reported.
In May, Van Damme quit as DA MP, saying she wanted to get away from a clique (white) that was controlling the party. Traverso also warned against the party’s culture of lawfare, saying the organisation should consider mediation in its disciplinary processes.
“As an independent outsider, I can confirm that matters such as the Patricia de Lille saga and other high-profile matters are extremely damaging to the party. In my view, it does not matter where the blame for this lies, whether it is a result of the FLC’s handling of the matters or a result of poor political leadership,” she said.
“These matt ers demonstrate the importance of alternative dispute resolution.” The DA had to pay close to R1-million to De Lille’s legal team for the legal cases they lost against hear.
The former Cape Town mayor, who now serves as Public Works and Infrastructure minister, won a case over the DA’s retraction of her membership, among others.
She accused the DA of being a racist party when she left in November 2018.
Former senior black leaders, including Mmusi Maimane, Herman Mashaba, John Moodey and Van Damme also claimed racism when they left.
DA leader John Steenhuisen submitted to the Traverso committee that the FLC was “severely limited” when dealing with high-profile cases that made it to the public domain.
He suggested the party consider approaching attorneys or retired judges to provide their service probono in such cases and that a panel of attorneys be appointed to deal with sensitive cases.
“He [Steenhuisen] points out that in more prominent cases where the details of a FLC referral reach the public domain, a case may fast gain momentum as a news story due to its tabloid potential, and can damage the party and its brand irrevocably,” Traverso said.
Former National Prosecuting Authority prosecutor Glynnis Breytenbach was re-elected as the chairperson of the FLC, along with DA MP Annelie Lotriet as the deputy chairperson.
In a memo to members on Tuesday, DA federal council chairperson Helen Zille said: “It is important that there is a good geographical spread of the panel members and to ensure that there are suffi cient members to deal with all cases.”
Click here to read more political analysis from this week’s newspaper.
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